It’s a common tradition in the car rental industry to Reserve cars at least 24 hours before picking them up.
However, the plain truth remains…
Reserving cars is never a guarantee to getting your reservation honoured, at least in the top car rental companies we know of.
If you get yours honored, that’s fine. But what if your reservation isn’t honored? What happens? This article covers everything you need to know.
Car rental Reservation not Honored? Here’s what Happens:
When reserving cars, you’re normally open to a number of options to pick from -several models of cars, a list of rental locations, etc.
However, these might not be the reality when picking the car. In some cases, a car rental company could run out of cars, or may not have the particular type of car you reserved.
In fact, this happens very often.
Some reasons that could lead to this include:
- When there’s a high demand for cars in the rental location you used. Reserving cars in more popular locations is a primary cause to this
- Car rental companies usually take in as many reservations as they can, regardless of their rental capacity.
- The reserved car is being repaired. If a particular is in the workshop, they’d not be available for rent, apparently.
So, what happens in a situation like this?
When a car rental reservation isn’t honored, the company is likely to offer you one of these 3 options:
- Refund you (Optional, if it’s a prepaid reservation or was made via a third-party site)
- Let you choose a different car on their slot (If it’s a particular car you reserved that isn’t honored)
- Rent the particular car from a close competitor or a sister company
Generally, it’s the responsibility of car rental companies to guide you through when they’re out of cars.
However, while you’re open to these options, you should also ensure to ask politely to avoid things going out of the norm. We’ve also provided some steps below on what to do when a car reservation isn’t honored.
If you’re about renting a car from Enterprise, you might also want to check our article on What to do when Enterprise doesn’t have the car you reserved.
How to avoid Car rental Reservations from not being Honored
While the chances of a reservation not getting honored are unavoidable, there are however things you can do to increase your chances of not getting your reservation dishonoured. Below are a few of these tips:
Check for Guaranteed Models
If you’re a tourist, in a tight corner, or about to take a vacation, you might want to be fully sure of your rental reservation so you don’t get disappointed.
Fortunately, you can do this, as there are some car rental companies that have a special section for guaranteed models of cars. A typical example of this is the Sixt car rental guaranteed models.
To add up, you could also have success getting the car you reserve when they’re unusual cars, luxurious, etc. However, keep in mind that they’ll be pretty much expensive, likewise.
Pick the car early
Even though they don’t tell you, most of these companies usually get spammed a lot on their reservation page.
Of course, it doesn’t cost money, unless being done through a third-party booking site.
For this reason, Car rental companies are most likely not to take any reservations seriously until the renters come to pick up the car themselves.
In other words, they’re not dedicated to any reservation. Hence, if you could come early, you can have a better chance than someone who came late (probably left with the leftover cars).
Call the rental location
One reason why car rental companies would usually give cars to renters who pick them first, rather than waiting for the list of renters on the reservation index, is due to the fact that car rental companies don’t know who is serious about a reservation and who isn’t.
However, by calling the rental location, you could be a step further than the general public.
It’s advisable you do this within a day to a few hours before your rental contract.
Rent from bigger rental locations
While bigger rental locations could have much more customers and renters trooping in, they could also have the variety of cars you may be looking for.
For instance, a small rental location might only have less than 2 of a Toyota Rav 4, whereas you could find more than 10 from a bigger location.
In general, they usually have more cars compared to smaller locations, hence a good bet if you’re looking to get your reservation honoured.
Put the pickup date at a low activity time frame
Generally, the best time to rent a car is at a low activity time frame, where most car rental locations would be less busy.
With this, you could get better deals, and most importantly, a better chance to get the car which you intend to rent.
If you want to follow this route, you can bet on Saturdays and Sundays for this.
What can you do when your car rental reservation is not honoured?
Choose another car from the class of vehicle which you rent from
Most car rental companies prefer to follow the system of ACRISS codes.
Hence, even when they show a particular car is available at a rental location during reservation, it only means cars sharing the same ACRISS code as the one you saw are currently available.
Just so you know, the ACRISS code, fully known as the Association of Car Rental Industry Systems Standards, is a rental system developed to help renters easily make better choices of the car models they want.
Generally, different models of cars have their special ACRISS codes.
You can read more about this here.
Ask for a refund
If your reservation is prepaid, you could also ask for a refund.
However, this only works when the company doesn’t have the car model or a car sharing the same ACRISS code, as the one you reserved. Otherwise, you’ll get charged a cancellation fee, before a refund will be granted.
Final Thoughts
In as much as Car rental companies try as much as possible to make all their reservations met, there isn’t a 100% guarantee that yours would be honored.
However, following the tutorials we made, you should be good!
If you’re about to rent from Enterprise, we have a guide on how to rent a specific car. It’s worth the read.
